Worried About Water Chemistry

[pseud]

Hehehe. You know, when I started dosing ferts I didn't figure out EI, just followed a guideline someone on another board posted. Apparently it's top notch *thumbs up*.. but, I've been suffering with cloudy water since I started dosing, and high nitrates. Allegedly, my nitrate test kit is off too. So, I figured I'd scrap that idea and figure out EI and do it properly. Point is, I looked into PPS and now EI seems like a breeze lol

 

[Walt]

EI is just plain simple..
I just test every night and add accordingly to keep Nitrates around 15-20 and Phosphates at about 2. Then just keep the CO2 at 35ppm and KH >3 (mines trys to slide under 3 once n awhile)
Then a 40% water change every week, and its all good B)

Wlt

 

[modernhamlet]

EI really seems like a great method. Fairly straightforward. Dose the right amount of PMDD, do big water change, repeat. I just have this stupid pH swing issue to deal with and limiting the water changes just seems like a safer bet for the fish. I don't mind the (somewhat) complicated maths and testing and frankly, the blindness of EI kinda bugs me.

The main reason that PPS is so complicated right now is that it's just now being developed fully. I think it might be fun to be part of that process. I think they're pretty close on the Nitrate, Phosphate, Potassium side of things. It's the Mg/Ca stuff that has me baffled at the moment.

For now, I'm just going to try to keep the poor plants alive for a couple of weeks and then make a decision.